George Washington (Lansdowne version)
George Washington (Lansdowne version), ca. 1800
After Gilbert Stuart, copy by William Winstanley
Oil on canvas
Gift of the David Warner Foundation, U1980.1.1
This iconic image of President George Washington is copied from a full-length portrait composed in 1796 and replicated three times by artist Gilbert Stuart, one of the preeminent American painters of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. It shows the president addressing both houses of Congress and is replete with symbolism. Commonly referred to as the Lansdowne version after the portrait’s first owner, the original painting is today in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution.
Two of Stuart’s replicas are at the Brooklyn Museum and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. The third, according to art historian Dorinda Evans, has “long been a focus of controversy” involving an English artist by the name of William Winstanley, who earned a reputation in the United States as a “swindling genius.” It is a complicated story: Winstanley certainly copied the replica when it was in his possession and may have switched his copy for the original. That controversial work now hangs in the White House.
W&L’s painting was at times attributed to Stuart but is assuredly by Winstanley. He made several copies after Stuart and audaciously attempted to pass them off as originals, even going so far as to invite Stuart to be part of his schemes. Winstanley failed repeatedly because his technical ability was visibly inferior to Stuart, who vociferously claimed various copies were not by his hand.
Based on Evans’ research, the W&L painting was probably one of two copies of the Lansdowne portrait by Winstanley that were left by the artist in the possession of Samuel Parkman, a Boston merchant. In 1801, they were sent to India to be sold. One copy was returned to Boston, while the other apparently came into the possession of a self-made entrepreneur, Ramdoolal Dey (1752 – 1825), a pioneer of the early Indo – American maritime trade in the late 18th century.
The painting descended in the Dey family until 1896, when Bengali H. C. Mallik purchased it at auction. The portrait hung in the Malik home in Calcutta for generations until 1963, when it was purchased and returned to the United States, where it was restored and authenticated as a Gilbert Stuart by the National Gallery of Art in D.C. Attribution was contested even then, and upon purchase in 1980 by The David Warner Foundation as a gift to Washington and Lee University, the portrait was attributed to Winstanley. The painting now hangs in W&L's Leyburn Library.
For more detailed information, see: Dorinda Evans, “William Winstanley (fl1791–1808) Gilbert Stuart’s shadow and a swindling genius,” The British Art Journal, Vol XX, No. 3, Winter 2020, pp. 98-110.